


Tearing at the Seams

by Sapphsquid



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Self-Doubt, Self-Hatred
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23587279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapphsquid/pseuds/Sapphsquid
Summary: He wasn’t going to let this stop him. He’d prove that he wasn’t weak, even if he didn’t believe it himself.
Relationships: Army/Glasses | Specs
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32
Collections: CoroikaCollection





	Tearing at the Seams

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfic I've ever actually posted, so please be nice lol.
> 
> NOTE: Rated T for for cussing and angst.

“30 seconds left!”

“Shit,” Glasses hissed in frustration, shaking the ink off his tentacles as he emerged from the spawn pad. He quickly collapsed into squid form before launching himself across the stage to his teammate’s location. As Blackbelly Skatepark flew by beneath him, he caught sight of his teammate and shifted into humanoid form just before landing. The second his feet touched the ground, he began to swing his Octobrush at a nearby enemy, but was unfortunately too late to save his teammate from being splatted. He lunged, dispatching the enemy swiftly before swimming up the side of the tower and covering it in his team’s green ink.

“10 seconds left!”

Unbeknownst to him, another enemy player had snuck up the side of the tower. Hearing the sound of Splating charging up, he whipped around, but only managed a single swing of his Brush before he was splatted by the Splating’s barrage of ink. As his ghost floated away into the sky, he glared down at the smirking Inkling girl.

“5… 4… 3… 2… 1… GAME SET!,” the announcer cried just as Glasses emerged from the spawn pad again, panting from exertion. He shook his tentacles free of ink before sighing angrily. He didn’t even have to look up at the scoreboard to know that his team had lost.

“THE VICTORY GOES TO… TEAM MAGENTA!,” the announcer shouted, just as he’d expected.

Glasses huffed irritably as the crowd erupted into a cacophony of cheers and boos, resisting the urge to pull his tentacles in frustration as he turned and walked off the pitch, avoiding eye contact with his teammates.

He hadn’t won a single match today. Since he’d arrived at the Lobby Tower that morning, it had been loss-after-loss. His entire body ached from the constant effort of swinging his Octobrush, which was almost the same size of him, and his muscles were screaming at him to stop and rest.

_You can rest when you win. Do you WANT to get kicked off the team?_

He gritted his teeth as he recalled the events of the Square King Ranked Cup. After an unfortunate incident regarding a falling beehive, he’d been temporarily hospitalized and much too injured to participate in the tournament with the rest of Blue Team. So that they could still participate, Emperor had stood in for him, which he’d initially had no problem with.

That was, until he saw just how well Emperor fit into the team, so much so that Glasses had started to worry that what was a temporary arrangement might end up being not so temporary after all. And why not? Not only did Emperor fit into the team perfectly, but he was also clever and extremely strong, much stronger than Glasses ever had been or ever would be. With Emperor, Blue Team was unstoppable, and had even made it to the final round of the tournament, where they had come dangerously close to defeating the legendary X-Blood Team.

_Even if they lost in the end, they wouldn’t have made it to the final round at all with me slowing them down._

To make matters worse for him, due to the sheer amount of victories they’d raked in during the tournament, his teammates had all skyrocketed in rank, leaving him scrambling to catch up to them like a duckling that had fallen behind its siblings.

How could he be so weak? For cod’s sake, he was supposed to be Blue Team’s leader!

_Am I though?_ , Glasses thought, shaking his head in dismay. Everyone seemed to be under the impression that Goggles was the leader instead, and Glasses had stopped trying to correct them long ago. At this point, he even agreed. He was too pathetic to be a leader, or even part of a team for that matter. It wouldn’t be long before his teammates realized that, if they hadn’t already. If he didn’t get stronger and catch up to them soon, they’d get rid of him. And he didn’t know what he’d do without them.

“Hey! Watch it, man!”

“Oh, sorry,” Glasses apologized to the Inkling he’d accidentally walked into. The Inkling simply rolled his eyes before walking away.

He sighed. He should probably get something to eat.

* * *

Glasses squinted against the sun as he exited the Lobby Tower. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he checked his SquidNet account and scoffed to himself upon seeing his current rank.

B+. Pathetic.

He growled under his breath at his own weakness. Goggles and Bobble were both A+ rankers, and Headphones was on the brink of reaching S+. Soon enough, all three of them would be among the ranks of those like Rider and the S4, and he would still be trying to climb his way out of the minor leagues. He still had a lot of work to do.

He tucked his phone back into his pocket before making his way across the Square to the recently repaired Crust Bucket. Having placed his order, he sat down at one of the nearby tables. As usual, the Square was full of happy Inklings and Octolings chattering as they went about their daily business. The sky above was clear and bright, so different from how Glasses felt on the inside.

As he looked up at the sky, his mind began to wander, his thoughts drifting to a certain Inkling, other than Emperor, that had been occupying his mind quite a bit since the tournament. Army, from the famous S4, to be exact. Much like him, the orange Inkling had suffered bee-related injuries. Having been stung all over his hands and feet, he’d been bandaged and confined to a wheelchair, having no choice but to watch from the stands as Rider stood in for him. Glasses had always looked up to Army, and had even been inspired by him to begin recording the battles he saw in journals. Of course, he’d initially been incredibly nervous about spending so much time around the legendary S+ ranker, but over the course of the tournament, the two of them had grown increasingly close, and surprisingly had a lot of common interests. Frankly, Glasses had thought that the two of them would go their separate ways once the tournament ended, and had even found himself wondering if Army was only talking to him because he had no one else to talk to. After all, why would someone so amazing care about _him_?

Though he felt that he didn’t deserve Army’s attention, Glasses was still grateful for it. His teammates were essentially celebrities at this point, and they had all been so busy with newer friends that they never seemed to have time for him anymore. If it weren’t for Army, he’d very likely been spending all of his time alone.

Sighing, he leaned back in his chair and pulled his phone out of his pocket to scroll through his social media while he waited for his food. However, just as his Squidder account opened, his head gave a sudden painful throb that almost caused him to drop his phone on the table. He grabbed his forehead, wincing. Damn, another headache. He seemed to get them every day now.

_One more match, and then you can go home. Don’t be such a baby._

“Hey, are you alright, Glasses?”

Glasses’ hearts leapt into his throat at the sound of a familiar voice. Removing his head from his hands, he squinted up at Army, who he hadn’t seen approaching.

“O-oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Glasses stuttered, looking at anything but the Inkling he’d been thinking about almost nonstop lately.

“Are you sure?,” Army asked, his voice etched with concern as he leaned down to get a better look at the blue Inkling, “You look really tired. If I were you, I would head home.”

“I was already planning on that. I’m going to try fitting in once more ranked match before I go home,” Glasses replied, despite that his muscles jolted in pain at the mere thought of another match.

“What?,” Army asked, his brows furrowing, “But I talked to Goggles earlier and he said that you’ve been playing ranked nonstop ever since your bandages came off. It really isn’t healthy for you to keep going at this pace.”

_Goggles needs to mind his own business_ , Glasses bit back a retort.

“I’m fine, really,” he instead faked a smile and forced himself to make eye contact with the other, ignoring the butterflies in his stomach when he did so, “I know how much I can take.”

Army narrowed his eyes a bit, but didn’t protest.

“Alright, he said, “Just don’t push yourself too far. It doesn’t matter what your rank is, you know.”

_Easy to say when you’re S+._

Suddenly, Army’s phone buzzed, prompting him to pull it out of his pocket.

“Oh carp,” he said, eyes widening upon reading the text he’d received, “Sorry, but I have to go. But remember what I said, though. I’ll talk to you later.”

_See? He has better things to do._

“Oh,” Glasses replied, trying not to let his disappointment seep into his voice, “Alright, see you later.”

He watched as Army shoved his phone back into his pocket and jogged away, leaving him with nothing but his thoughts and a Schwaffle he didn’t want anymore.

* * *

Army sighed, leaning back in his chair as he stretched his aching back, made sore from hunching over the various papers and sticky notes strewn across his desk. Sitting up straight, he again looked over the multitude of notes taken from his many battles, but his eyes were inevitably drawn back to one paper in particular. For what seemed like the thousandth time, he once again skimmed the contents of the paper containing his notes on Glasses.

Since the tournament the two of them had spent together while they were injured, Army had become quite fond of the blue Inkling and had been touched to see that he’d inspired him to begin working on a manual of his own. Army always enjoyed spending time with Glasses, but lately, doing so had become a bit anxiety-inducing. He’d begun to notice a lot of changes in the little-known Blue Team leader, many of which he found worrying. From what he could see, Glasses hardly seemed to spend any time with his teammates anymore, instead opting to spend much of his time locked in ranked matches, seemingly with no concern for the amount of strain he was putting on his body. Even from afar, one could see how exhausted the poor Inkling was, how his shoulders seemed to sag in an almost Mask-like fashion, how dark and joyless his once-bright blue eyes had become. He seemed to spend no amount of time not thinking about his rank, and even on the rare occasions that Army came across him when he wasn’t heading to or returning from the Lobby Tower, he was poring over his notes and trying to plan for the future.

_He’s always thinking of ways to be better, but he’s already amazing._

Leaning back in his chair again, Army glanced at his phone sitting on the desk, contemplating whether or not to contact Glasses like he’d said he would earlier. He huffed in annoyance as he recalled the events of that afternoon. He really hadn’t wanted to leave after seeing the blue Inkling for the first time in a few days, but Skull accidentally setting fire to part of the kitchen had been a matter too important for him to simply ignore.

He picked up his phone to send Glasses a text, but stopped upon seeing that it was already 10:00 PM. Considering how tired the other had looked earlier, he was likely asleep by now. Deciding that letting him rest was more important, Army put his phone down on the desk before getting up to get ready for bed himself. As his eyes were again drawn to his phone, the orange Inkling shook his head in dismay.

_Why are you so worried? He can take care of himself, right?_

* * *

Glasses jolted awake, panting and glancing around his darkened bedroom wildly as the events of his nightmare replayed vividly in his mind.

_“Sorry, but you just can’t seem to keep up with us, so we’re kicking you off the team. Don’t bother finding another one. You’ll just drag them down too.”_

_“You’re so useless! You make us all look bad!”_

_“Did you really think you were the leader? No, it’s always been me!”_

As his teammates’ voices echoed in his head, Glasses growled under his breath at the familiar prickling sensation in his eyes.

_What, are you gonna cry? You really are weak._

Refusing to let a single tear fall, he laid back down, spending the rest of the night tossing and turning until he eventually fell into a fitful sleep.

After what felt like mere minutes, Glasses was again startled awake by the harsh beeping of his alarm clock. Irritably slamming his hand down on the power button, he wrapped his blanket around him and slowly sat up, his muscles screaming in protest. Damn, he was in even more pain than he’d been in yesterday. He shivered, pulling the blanket around him tighter. Oddly enough, he was sweating, but he felt cold. His headache seemed to have returned as well. For a moment, he considered staying home and going back to sleep, but he quickly shoved those thoughts down and grabbed his glasses from the bedside table.

He wasn’t going to let this stop him. He’d prove that he wasn’t weak, even if he didn’t believe it himself. Putting his glasses on, he glanced across the room and almost recoiled in horror at his reflection in the mirror.

He looked like shit.

Sighing, Glasses begrudgingly unwrapped himself from the blanket and shivered as the cool air hit his skin. He trudged down the hall to the bathroom, making a mental note to bring a jacket with him when he left. Upon returning to his bedroom, he pulled a plain gray tee-shirt out of his dresser and slipped it over his head, following it up with a pair of dark blue jeans and a Zekko Hoodie. Not only was he much too exhausted to even think about wrestling with a tie, he’d recently found himself losing passion for his usual business casual look. After pulling on a pair of Blue & Black Squidkid IVs, he pulled his tentacles into a ponytail and grabbed his Octobrush on his way out the door.

He headed into the kitchen to see that the coffee maker had already been turned on, a sign that Headphones was awake, and fished a travel mug out of the cabinet.

“Morning, Glasses!,” Goggles called from the kitchen table, where he was eating a bowl of cereal.

“Morning,” he grunted in reply as he poured some of the coffee into the cup and screwed the lid shut before heading toward the door.

“Wait, are you leaving?,” Goggles asked, concerned, “You look really tired. Why don’t you stay home?”

“I’m fine,” Glasses said, “I have coffee and I’ll eat on the way.”

Not in the mood to argue with his teammate, he pulled the door shut behind him as he headed out into the sunny autumn morning. After what seemed like an eternity of maneuvering through the unbearably loud and bright city, the blue Inkling finally arrived at Inkopolis Square. Though his muscles were already begging for rest, he pushed on and made his way into the Lobby Tower, unaware of the concerned pair of orange eyes following him in.

As he made his way toward one of the Tower’s many lobby rooms, he was overcome by a sudden dizzy spell, which forced him to lean against the wall in order to keep himself from falling over. He sighed in relief as his blazing forehead made contact with the cool wall.

The sound of approaching footsteps snapped Glasses out of his momentary trance. Looking over his shoulder, he watched as two yellow Inklings passed by, both of them giving him an odd look but continuing on without saying anything. As their voices gradually grew quieter with distance, he managed to catch a snippet of their conversation.

“Hey, wasn’t that Glasses from Team Blue?”

“Who?”

Glasses gritted his teeth so hard that for a moment he thought they might break.

* * *

“Good morning, everyone! Today’s ranked match rotation will be kicked off with Rainmaker!,” the announcer’s voice boomed from the speakers around The Reef.

Glasses shook the excess ink from his tentacles as he emerged from his team’s cyan spawn pad. He quickly glanced at each of his teammates, taking note of what weapons they were using before shifting his gaze to the bridge at the stage’s center. Narrowing his eyes against the sunlight reflected from its gold surface, he could make out the shape of the Rainmaker sitting within its protective bubble.

“Without further ado, let’s get this started!”

Glasses tightened his grip on his Octobrush in anticipation.

“Ready…”

Keeping his eyes locked on the Rainmaker, he forced himself into a ready position.

“Set…”

He took a deep breath.

“GO!”

Glasses exploded from the spawn and immediately began to swing his Octobrush. His determination overpowering his fatigue, he followed his teammates, rocketing past them as he pushed his Brush along the ground. He narrowed his eyes as he caught sight of an enemy player approaching the Rainmaker. He growled to himself, quickening his pace. Reaching the bridge, he lunged forward and made quick work of the enemy before turning his attacks toward the Rainmaker shield. As his teammates followed suit, the shield expanded rapidly beneath the onslaught before finally breaking in an explosion of cyan ink that splatted two nearby enemies.

“Team Cyan has the Rainmaker!,” the announcer proclaimed as Glasses hauled the golden weapon onto his shoulder.

Beneath the crippling weight of the Rainmaker, Glasses immediately began to feel his exhaustion catching up with him. Still determined to win, he weakly propelled himself toward the goal.

He could make it. He would prove he wasn’t weak, that he was worth keeping on Blue Team.

Glasses faintly registered his hands move to fire off a shot from the Rainmaker. The announcer said something, but he was barely able to hear it over the blood roaring in his ears.

Halfway there.

He hiked up an incline leading toward the enemy spawn, momentarily diving into his team’s ink to avoid a Charger shot.

_Almost there…_

The goal was in sight. He couldn’t give up yet. He panted as he hiked up another incline before again diving into his team’s ink and rushing past the enemy players to the goal post.

_Shit… Dizzy…_

As he finally approached the goal, the Inkling gathered every modicum of strength he had left to leap out of the ink, lifting the Rainmaker over his head and slamming it down on the goal post.

“TEAM CYAN WINS!”

Even over the sound of his hearts pounding in his ears, Glasses faintly heard the announcer’s voice, but he just couldn’t couldn’t bring himself to care anymore.

_Vision going dark…_

He’d pushed himself too far. His consciousness was fading fast. Unable to fight it anymore, his body gave out as his vision was engulfed by darkness.

* * *

Pain was the first sensation Glasses registered as he woke up. Cod, even opening his eyes seemed to take effort.

Wait. Even through his terribly blurry vision, he could see that the bed he was tucked into wasn’t his own. He squinted, barely managing to prop himself up on his elbows as he looked around the dim, unfamiliar room.

Where was he?

His arms already giving out, the blue Inkling fell back onto the bed with a groan. Immediately, Glasses picked up the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. The door opened slowly, and someone shut it behind them before approaching him. Squinting as hard as he could against his weak vision, he could make out some familiar features; a forest green coat and a dark orange beret. As the Inkling got closer, he was able to see their trademark eye stripes.

“Army?,” Glasses croaked, wincing at how rough his voice sounded. He glanced around the room again. Was this Army’s room? If so, he must be at the house that he shared with the rest of the S4.

“How are you feeling?,” Army asked gently, bending down to get a better look at him.

“Sore,” Glasses replied, forcing himself into a sitting position. He winced as his head, accompanied by the rest of his body, screamed at him to lay back down.

“I’m sure,” Army said, walking to the other side of the room to retrieve something, “You overworked yourself so hard that you collapsed.”

Glasses furrowed his brow in thought. He’d collapsed? The last thing he remembered was arriving at The Reef for a Rainmaker match.

_Wait…_

His face burned with humiliation. Army, the one he admired most, had seen him faint? He dug his nails into the mattress beneath him, wanting to scream his lungs out in frustration.

_Weak! Pathetic! Useless! There’s no way they won’t replace you with Emperor now! They’re gonna abandon you and never talk to you again and neither will Ar-_

A tap on the shoulder pulled him out of his self-hating trance. He looked up to see Army resting his hand on his shoulder and holding a water bottle out to him.

“You need to hydrate. You’ve been running a high fever.”

Glasses nodded and solemnly took the bottle from him, watching from the corner of his eye as the orange Inkling sat at the foot of the bed. The moment the bottle touched his lips, he found himself chugging the contents as if he’d just spent the past few days in a desert, and didn’t stop until it was completely empty. Panting, he finally lowered the bottle from his mouth and eyed Army warily. Oddly enough, the other was looking back at him with a look of soft concern, rather than one of hatred like he deserved.

“Glasses… Are you okay?,” Army asked.

Glasses averted his gaze, feeling butterflies in his stomach. His face heated up, and he was unsure if it was from embarrassment or his fever.

“I’m fine,” he lied.

“I’m not that stupid,” Army sighed. He shifted closer and gently rested his hand on top of Glasses’, prompting the blue Inkling to look back at him in surprise.

“There’s no way you’ve been abusing yourself the way you have for no reason. I can tell you’ve been hurting, but I kept quiet about it like an idiot, and I’m not going to sit by while you suffer anymore. I care about you, and I want to help. Please, just tell me,” Army said, his eyes boring into Glasses’.

Glasses felt his stomach twist in shame as his eyes began to prickle with tears. Oh cod, passing out was one thing, but he would never forgive himself if he _cried_ in front of Army. He felt as if he was tearing at the seams, all of the emotions he’d trapped inside were becoming too much to contain. He was just so scared, so angry, so lonely, so exhausted, in so much pain, and now Army was paying more attention to him than anyone had in days, and had even brought him to his house and tucked him in when he’d collapsed, and-

He risked making eye contact with Army again, and he just couldn’t do it anymore. A whimper slipped out of him as the tears he’d been trying so hard to hold back began to fall. He curled in on himself in shame and hid his face in his hands, not wanting to be seen like this by anyone, let alone _him_. The bed shifted and he felt the orange Inkling’s warm body press against him as he was wrapped up in his arms and oh cod he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been hugged-

A sob tore its way from his throat, and he couldn’t help burying his face in the other’s chest as he attempted to hide his pathetic noises.

“It’s okay…,” Army soothed, rubbing circles into his back. 

“I-I-I’m,” Glasses desperately tried to speak through his sobs, “s-s-so-rry…”

“Shh…,” Army murmured, tightening his arms around him slightly, “You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Refusing to return the hug, Glasses continued to heave with sobs that felt as if they were tearing his already aching body apart. He didn’t understand, he didn’t deserve this, Army was just wasting his time, couldn’t he see that?

Judging by how the other simply continued to rub circles into his back, he didn’t. Despite knowing that he didn’t deserve the attention, Glasses couldn’t help but feel soothed by Army’s warmth and gentle touch. Even after his wails finally died down, Army continued to hold him and rub his back comfortingly. For a few minutes, the two of them sat in silence until Army spoke up.

“Do you want to talk about what’s been upsetting you?”

Glasses grimaced a bit. He’d never been one to be open with his innermost emotions, but he figured he owed Army at least this much after everything he’d done for him.

“I… I guess it started when the tournament happened,” he sniffled, wiping at his reddened eyes, “W-when my teammates played with Emperor, it m-made me realize how weak I was…”

“ _Weak?_ ,” Army sounded genuinely shocked.

“Yeah,” Glasses sighed, his voice gradually losing its tremor as it continued, “A-and not only that, but they all ranked up so much, and since I didn’t play, I fell behind. And with them having played with Emperor before and how low my rank is compared to all of them, I started training really hard because I was afraid that if I didn’t catch up, they’d… replace me.”

“You really think they would replace you? That’s crazy!,” Army said incredulously.

“Is it?,” Glassed huffed irritably.

“Yes! Your teammates love you!”

“Things can change.”

To Glasses’ astonishment, Army gently cupped his cheeks with both hands and tilted his head up, forcing him to make eye contact.

“Glasses, listen to me,” he said softly, “They will never replace you. I’ve heard them, Rider too, talk about you, and I have never once heard anything except glowing praise. You’re the smartest, most clever person I know, and not only that, but in all of the battles I’ve witnessed, I have never seen someone as skilled, as _terrifying_ , with an Inkbrush as you. You’re amazing, and you seem to be the only one who can’t see that.”

“Do you… actually mean that?,” Glasses asked.

“You know I do. And even if you weren’t all of those things, it wouldn’t matter, because you aren’t defined by your rank, and it just isn’t worth tearing yourself apart over. You all are the ones who taught me that. And… cod forbid they ever did leave you, you wouldn’t be alone, because I’d still be here.”

Glasses almost started crying again as he finally returned Army’s hug. The orange Inkling chuckled, wrapping his arms around him tighter.

“Ow,” Glasses hissed, stabs of pain shooting through his muscles at the contact.

“Sorry,” Army said, loosening his grip and pulling back to look him in the face, “Do you want me to get you some painkillers?”

“No, I’m okay,” Glasses said.

“Alright,” Army replied, pressing the back of his hand to Glasses’ forehead, “Your fever’s still going strong, so you should at least lay down.”

Glasses groaned as he slid onto his back, forcing down a blush as Army tucked him in again. When he was satisfied, the orange Inkling laid down next to him, reaching over to gently pet his tentacles. Glasses’ eyes drifted shut at his touch.

“Get some sleep,” Army said, “You need it. And tell me if you need anything. I’ll take care of you.”

“Mmm,” Glasses hummed, already beginning to doze off as his exhaustion returned at full force, “All I need is for you to stay here…”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

As he was lulled to sleep by the gentle petting of his tentacles, Glasses drifted off, truly content for the first time in weeks.

“Sleep well.”

* * *

Noticing a camera's flash from the corner of his eye, Army whipped his head toward the other side of the room. Through the partially opened door, he caught a glimpse of pink as the perpetrator took off down the hall, laughing to himself.


End file.
